Cross Country
by Ozzy and Drix Fan Girl
Summary: Munch's Make Believe Band go on a 7 day tour across the U.S.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a story written by AD Machine over on RPZ that he says is a long fanfic he had on his computer. I'm now helping him with it and I'm sure that by now you can tell my writing style from his.** **If you've seen my other CEC fics on here.**

"Well guys, it's officially time to start our first ever cross-country road trip!", Chuck announced as he started the band's tour bus. "Just think, in 7 days, we'll have driven across the entire USA!"

"And, we'll be touring all over the place!", Jasper said, rolling down his window. "Fairs, parties, oh, maybe even the Super Bowl!" he added.He paused a moment and thought, and said, "Hmmm, that's over, so how do y'all feel about a whole bunch o' Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants?"

"But that's-a where we always are!", Pasqually groaned. "Ia wanted to-a perform in-a Little Italy!"

"Don't worry Pasqually, we'll get out a little bit!", Chuck said. "In fact, I've booked us a special gig tonight!"

"Well, I personally want to go to as many malls as I can!", Helen chimed in, looking at a brochure for Parmatown Mall, which, as the brochure advertised, was _The biggest, newest, shiniest mall in Ohio!_

"Why? Once you've seen one mall, you've seen them all, at least to me", Munch said, looking at Helen, confused. "I mean, yeah, the food court's great and all, but other than that...I just don't get it. It's just stores...right?". He looked down at his shoes bashfully.

"Wow Munch, I certainly hope April never finds out you were trash-talking malls!", Helen said, shooting Munch a glare. "I thought April loved malls!", she added. Munch fell opened his mouth as if to add something, but fell silent.

"Break it up guys! I-a don't-a wanna fight in-a the first ten-a minutes of the a trip!", Pasqually groaned, holding his head.

"You said it Pasqually!", Chuck said, pulling the van onto the highway. "Let's just enjoy this time we've got in each other's company", he added, looking in the mirror at the band.

"Arizona!", Munch announced two hours later as the van rolled down the highway. "That makes ten!", he announced to the bus. Unfortunately, nobody was really paying him any attention. Chuck was looking at the road, Jasper was strumming his guitar, humming _Tokens to Ride,_ Helen was looking at more mall brochures, and Pasqually was reading a cookbook.

"Amazing Munch", Helen mumbled, unenthusiastic. "Aren't you a little, I don't know, old to be playing the license plate game?"

"Oh…..", Munch said sadly, "I'll stop". After a moment, he looked towards Chuck's seat, and asked, "So, Chuck, how're things going with Mitzi?"

"Umm, Munch", Jasper cut in, "Ixnay on the Mitzi-ay!", he said jerking his head in Helen's direction. Helen just looked out the window, sighing loudly.

"Was that Pig Latin?", Chuck asked. Jasper nodded, so he said, "That was pretty good". Jasper gave a little bow and Munch clapped softly.


	2. Chapter 2

After 5 hours in the van, which had been speckled with a few stops along the way, including a small diner where Munch and Jasper had serenaded the crowd with Tokens to Ride, the band had finally arrived at their concert venue.

It was a nice sized event center, decked out for a school dance, with a small stage set up, with a paper banner that read "Welcome Chuck E Cheese!"

"Well, it's obvious which one of us they love", Jasper grumbled as he carried Munch's organ on stage. "Always Chuck E! Chuck E!", he said.

"Now that's not true!", Chuck said, throwing Jasper a look. "In fact, in the recent survey, you won most popular member of the band!". Jasper didn't reply, but Chuck did notice he had a spring in his step for the rest of set-up.

After the band had performed their last song, which was Party Place, Helen announced, "Thanks folks! Thank you so much! We love you all!"

"Heh-yeah!", Pasqually said, tapping on his drums. Munch nodded in agreement, and Jasper let loose with a riff on his guitar.

Chuck closed the show by saying, "Well folks, we've gotta run! Thanks so much for comin' out here today!", and the curtains closed around them. "Man gang, we were on fire tonight!"

"Yeah!", Munch agreed. "My hand hurts now! I don't even know if I can hold a pizza!"

"Oh, something tells me you still can", Jasper said.

The band tore down the set, and soon were back on the road, this time Jasper was in the driver's seat. "The GPS says we've still got 1 hour to our hotel!", Jasper announced about 30 minutes after the show. "So, anyone up for a rest break?"

"Jasper, we-a just-a left the show!", Pasqually groaned. "We're-a gonna get there at-a midnight at this-a rate!"

"Ummm...yeah…..scratch that rest break", Jasper said. After an hour, during which Munch, Chuck E. and Helen had fallen asleep, Jasper finally pulled the bus into the hotel's lot. "Woah, get a load of this place", he said to Pasqually, marvelling at the hotel's shiny white facade.

"Yeah, fancy", Pasqually yawned. They woke the rest of the band, and hurried inside, eager for a night of sleep.

The next morning, Munch was eating breakfast in the hotel, when a big bulldog came up behind him and growled, "Hey, fatso, you're hogging the line"

"Fatso?", Munch asked, turning around, donuts spilling off his towering plate. "W-who do y-you think you're calling Fat?"

"You, Mr.-I'm-eating-400-donuts", the dog growled. "Nobody takes Bruiser's donuts! NOBODY!"


	3. Chapter 3

After a quick departure from the hotel, spurred on by Munch's breakfast run-in, the band was back in the van. Chuck, exhausted due to being on the phone for half the night with Mitzi, was more than happy to give Helen the wheel.

"Umm, Helen...", Jasper asked as the van pulled off the highway. "Where exactly are we going? We're supposed to stay on I-565,according to the map"

"I know, but I want to take a detour", Helen said.

"A detour?", Pasqually asked. "I-a dunno Helen, every-a time we do something like this, my-a mustache gets all-a itchy!", he said, scrtaching his mustache.

Munch, who was choosing to stay out of the argument, looked into the back seat, where Chuck was crashed, his head flopping on his shoulder. "Hey guys, I think we should let Chuck E. sleep"

"Chuck?", Jasper asked, glancing into the back. He then said with a laugh, "Oh, yeah, Chuck". The whole band looked quizzically at him, so he shrugged and said, "I forgot he was back there!"

"Whu...what's I miss?", Chuck asked, waking up. He then looked out the window, and asked, "Hey, Helen...where exactly are we?"

"Parma Ohio", Helen said. "I told you guys, I wanted to go shopping"

"Let me guess, we're going to the mall", Munch asked. Helen nodded, so he just began thumping his head against the window in defeat.


	4. Chapter 4

Once they reached the mall, Helen and the band got out, and Munch looked at the entrance they were heading towards.

 _Wow this place is huge..._ He thought, amazed at how big the mall was, but not wanting to say it in front of the others in case they would pick on him about it, _I wonder if they have any food... Like... Like pizza!_

"So Munch, what do you think?" Helen asked him, smiling but smirking on the inside, "Not like other malls you've seen, is it?" Munch just shook his head.

"But I've seen better." He then said with a shrug.

"Really?" Helen asked him, looking in his direction, "Where?"

Munch opened his mouth and held up a finger as if to say something but closed it again and brought his hand back to his side.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Helen said, looking straight ahead again to watch where she was going.

As they entered the mall, Munch was amazed at the interior, and it was really spacious.

 _Wow!_ Munch thought, looking around, _April would really like this one! Wonder if you can buy food here in bulk, too, like snacks and stuff._

"You amazed yet, Munch?" Helen asked, smiling at him.

"It's big, but probably a bit too big for my tastes..." Munch again lied, looking around still, "It's like if I were to get lost here I'd never be... Never be found again." Helen giggled.

"Don't worry Munch." She assured him, "Someone would find ya!"

Despite Munch's amazement towards the mall, he still had that fear of getting lost in one, feeling as if he got lost he'd never come back out.

"Is that why you don't like malls Munch?" Jasper asked, giving Munch a confused look, "You're afraid you'll never come back out again?" Munch shrugged.

"I guess so." He replied, beginning to look down at his feet, "Unless I just don't..."

"Don't what?" Jasper asked, looking straight ahead to watch where he was going.

"Unless I just don't like malls." Munch said.

"Yeah, but the food court's great!" Jasper said sarcastically, mocking what Munch had said earlier on in the trip.

"Hey!" Munch said, shooting a slight glare at Jasper, "I can't help it, okay!?"

"Okay, okay..." Chuck said, butting in before the argument could get worse, "That's enough, guys! We don't wanna ruin Helen's shopping experience."

Munch sighed, then rolled his eyes as he slumped his shoulders a bit.

 _This is gonna be a long shopping trip..._ He thought, _Or as the ladies call it, a long 'shopping spree'._

The reason he knew it was a shopping spree was because April had told him once, but she never really used the term.


	5. Chapter 5

While Helen dragged Pasqually into the first store she could find, much to Pasqually's misery, Jasper and Chuck wandered around, not going into any stores. "How on Earth did we end up here?", Chuck asked as Jasper signed an autograph for a fan.

"Where? The mall? Well, Helen drove us here", Jasper said.

"Nah, not the mall. I mean, why does everything we try go haywire so badly?", Chuck asked, walking past what seemed like the 50th closed store

"Umm...", Jasper began, but was cut off when another fan ran up to them, holding scraps of paper for them both to sign.

Meanwhile, another member of the band was not having such a good time. Munch had split off from the group and was searching for the food court. He found it, only to find every single food stall was closed! "Wh...what?!" he asked, looking around. "Wh...where's all the food?"

"Ain't nothin' here, buddy", an old man with a walker said. "Just dust and old timers like me".

"Why is there no food???", Munch asked, nearly hysterical. "I need food!"

"Buddy, there's practically nothing here! Soon enough they're gonna tear down this ghost town, and put in new open-air stores"

"Oh...", Munch said. "Well, nice seeing you..", he said, running down the hall. He flew around the corner, bowling over Helen, and a very tired Pasqually.


End file.
